Walter L. Beasley Jr. graciously allowed access to his large collection of annotated and organized photographs; they proved to be a pleasure to work with and invaluable to this book. Vonnie Shelton, special collections librarian at the McCracken County Public Library, again helped identify, reference, and photograph materials in that depository. In particular the Steinhauer holdings are strong on flood scenes. Without the help of the following this undertaking would not have been possible: J. Sam Jackson, the Paducah Board of Education, Mary Hammonds, Rosemarie Steele and the Paducah Tourist Bureau staff, Sue Reid Draper, W.O. Green, Jim Keeny, Jim Hank, Bertha W. Wenzel, Gail Ridgeway, Elizabeth Brown, Loudell Paul, Shirlene Mundy, Edward Leek, Bill Black Jr., Jack Johnston, Robert Johnston, Robert Dafford, James Curtis, personnel at various churches, the Blalock and Stacey families, Tom Emerson, Phyllis Ham, Thomas D. Galvin, the Joe H. Metzgers, Ann Lou Shaffer French, the River Heritage Museum, Ro Morse, Doug Van Fleet, The Paducah Sun, Barron White, and others.
References are from my books, plus the 1979 reprint of Fred G. Neuman, The Story of Paducah (Kentucky), Image Graphics, 1979; Camille Wells, Architecture of Paducah and McCracken County, Image Graphics, 1981; Donald E. Lessley, Paducah: Gateway, A History of Railroads in Western Kentucky, Troll Publishing Co., 1978; and Kentucky Encyclopedia, ed. John E. Kleber, the University Press of Kentucky, 1992.
Finally, without my wife Margaret, I would never accomplish anything of value.